ONCE AROUND THE FLOOR

WASILLA — Cutting a mean rug to “Sentimental Journey” was just that for Dick Lowe Thursday as he spun and wheeled his way across the dance floor at American Legion Susitna Valley Post No. 35. His dance with Jody Linsey, recreation director for the Palmer Veterans and Pioneers Home, took him back to his youth in the 1940s. He lived in Mora, Minn., and recalls his first trip around the dance floor.

“It was at the Harbor Lights Bar and Grill,” he said. “It was a hoedown, a local Saturday night dance hall. That was the only thing to do in town after 10 o’clock.”

The Saturday night dance hall was reincarnated Thursday at the American Legion post for its second monthly dance for veterans and seniors, said James Francois, the post’s service officer. It’s an event he said that gives Valley seniors another social outlet and allows the post to show they’re still appreciated and valued.

“This gives them something to do, especially the veterans and seniors in the winter,” he said. “We appreciate everything they’ve done and we haven’t forgotten about them.”

When the post started the monthly dance in January, one senior showed up. On Thursday, a dozen filled the tables and dance floor, most from the Pioneers Home. Linsey said dancing is nothing new for the center, but having a local community group reach out and invite the seniors “is a wonderful thing.”

Aside from the dances — held the last Thursday of the month — the post quietly supports local seniors and veterans in many ways, and mostly without public recognition, she said.

“They do a lot for us at the home,” Linsey said. “I dance with them in wheelchairs all the time, and this is a good way to show they can still go and do things. We do a lot of stuff at the home, but it’s nice to get out.”

Nobody seemed to have more fun than Hazel Gentry, who was the lone attendee at last month’s dance. A big smile broke across her face when she arrived Thursday and saw she wasn’t alone this time.

“I used to go to square dances when I was a kid,” said the 94-year-old Big Lake resident. She also recalls music and dancing being a big part of her childhood and adult life.

“My daddy played the banjo and my mama played a guitar a little bit,” she said. “They’d take us five kids to the dances.”

Later on, she and husband Earl would entertain at functions and events. Gentry first came to Alaska “a day or two” before official statehood in 1959, and admits that even with her musical background, “I never learned how to dance.”

When prompted that she could learn Thursday, she laughed and held up her hands. “Oh, I think I’m too old to do that now.”

At the table in front of Gentry, Lowe and Kay Losiewski enjoyed a couple of afternoon libations, conversation and music from their youth, like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. As Lowe reminisced about how the weekly get-togethers were a chance “to dance a little bit and drink a little bit,” Losiewski was quick with a friendly jab.

“Well, he was a minister’s son, so it couldn’t have been too wild,” she quipped.

A World War II Army nurse, Losiewski recalls community dances were more of a social event than they are today.

“That was a long time ago, back in the ’40s,” she said. “But I don’t make any judgments (about today’s culture).”

She recalls the dances “were pretty tame. I had a strict mother, so they were mostly waltzes.”

As volunteer Carl Seaver belted out his rendition of “My Way,” Linsey pulled one of the home’s more eligible bachelors onto the floor, Phil Plack. Plack couldn’t help grinning from ear-to-ear as Linsey twirled and danced with him in his wheelchair.

“This gives them an opportunity to still be part of the community and be with their peers,” Linsey said. “I think a lot of people do forget about our seniors — but not these people, not today.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.